Bhagawan invariably refers to Shirdi Sai Baba as 'my previous body' when
He speaks about Him; He often describes to His devotees how He, 'in His
previous body' dealt with people and situations, what illustrations He
gave to clarify a cerain point, what questions were asked, etc. While
telling people about Shirdi Baba, He may be heard saying, "Just as
you have seen me do now" or, "Just as I do while in trance,"
to make the point clear. When some one asks Him a question today, He starts
His reply sometimes with the remark, "The same doubt was raised by
a man who had come to Shirdi" and He will continue the conversation
with the reply He gave that other man long ago in Maharashtra!

He recognises all devotees of Shirdi Baba as His own; in fact, He tells
them, "I have known you since ten years," or, "Though
this is the first time you see this Sariram (body) I have seen you twenty
years ago, when you came to Shirdi." And, the person will find
that he has been to Shirdi exactly twenty years previously! Here are
some instances where devotees have had experiences that have convinced
them of the identity of the two Sais.

The Cure and the ConfirmationHow Baba proved to Mr. Dixit that He is same
Shirdi Sai come again

Mr. M S Dixit had the unique privilege of seeing
Shirdi Sai Baba when he visited Shirdi in 1909 as a young lad and later
Sri Sathya Sai Baba in 1961 when he was past sixty. Here’s how he
realised that both the Sais are in fact the same, as related by Howard
Murphet in his book, “Sai Baba: Man of Miracles”:

M S Dixit was born in 1897 to Sadashiv Dixit, an advocate who was at
one time Diwan (Prime Minister) of the royal state of Kutch. Sadashiv's
eldest brother, Hari S. Dixit, was a solicitor in Bombay and a member
of the Legislative Council. Hari Dixit became a close devotee of Shirdi
Baba.

In the company of his uncle Hari, M. S. Dixit told me, he made his earliest
visits to Shirdi; first in the year 1909, and again in 1912. Before this
second visit he had been suffering what he called "half-headaches".

At sunrise half his head would start to ache agonizingly; then a little
before sunset it would stop. This would go on each day for about two months
at a stretch; it was very distressing. His uncle took him to Sai Baba
hoping for a cure of the strange headaches.

Mr. Dixit recalls vividly how he was sitting near Sai Baba one day when
Baba suddenly said to him: "Why are you sitting here - go home!"

Young Dixit replied that he had a bad headache and the heat of the fire
near which he was sitting brought him some relief. But Baba insisted that
he must go. It was the custom when leaving to take some ash from the fireplace
and put it in Baba's hand, so that He might with it give His parting blessing.

The fourteen-year-old boy did this. Baba held the udhi for a moment and
then applied it to the lad's forehead with some force. Young Dixit felt
that he had been slapped on the head as well as ordered to go away, so
he told his uncle that he would not visit Baba anymore.

Hari Dixit replied: "Are you a fool? The slap means that your headache
will not recur."

This turned out to be true. The strange and terrible headaches never
came back after that day, and young Dixit understood that Baba had been
in His enigmatic way ordering, not the boy, but the headache to go away.

Six years later, in July 1918, M. S. Dixit found himself ill again, this
time with bad haemorrhoids and an anal fistula. The medical men of Bombay
where he was living said he must undergo an operation, but he felt very
nervous about having surgery and did not want it.

Yet he was suffering a lot and there was much bleeding. He felt very
miserable about his condition. At one of the regular Thursday evening
gatherings of Shirdi Baba's Bombay devotees, M.S. Dixit was somehow overcome
by the devotional atmosphere combined with his own misery. Although a
young man of twenty, he broke down and cried like a child.

That night he had a dream in which Shirdi Baba came to him and chided
him for "weeping like a girl". Then the old saint told him what
to use as a cure for his ailment.

After waking, Dixit could remember everything except the name of the
medicine that Baba had prescribed. He was very distressed about this and
decided to go to Shirdi as soon as possible and get the name from Baba's
lips.

But before he could go he heard the news Baba had passed away."Now”
he thought gloomily, "I shall never know the medicine’s name
and must go on suffering."

The next Thursday evening meeting, following the news of Baba's passing,
he found himself again overwhelmed with sorrow for himself, and wept once
more. The same night brought him another vivid dream.

In this Baba stood before him again, still in the old Shirdi form. He
said, "What! Crying like a girl again."

Then he told the young man to "take seven seeds of pepper, crush
them to powder, and each day take a pinch of the powder mixed with udhi.
All devotees, incidentally, kept some of Baba's udhi in their homes. M.
S. Dixit remembered these instructions clearly next morning and carried
them out. On the third day of treatment the pain stopped; on the seventh
the bleeding stopped.

A complete cure took place and the complaint never returned. The years
passed and the pages of Dixit's life turned over: he was in business;
he got married; he was a major and Brigade Education Officer in the army
during the Second World War and for some years afterwards. The year 1959
found him back in commercial life in the west-coast city of Mangalore.

During his leisure time he would read the ‘Guru
Charitra’. It is said that if this book is read through completely
within seven days, great spiritual benefits will ensue. On the evening
of the sixth day of the reading he had a dream.

In the dream, he was walking along a broad avenue of trees, and felt
that someone was following him. He looked back. There was a man, very
distinctive looking, close behind him. Dixit asked: "Who are you
and why are you following me?"

But there was no reply. The figure just continued to follow silently.
After a few minutes Dixit looked back again and saw the man still following
him. Neither said anything. Soon the footsteps drew closer, and Dixit
felt that something was being poured over his head from behind. He realised
that it was ash…

That was all of the dream he could remember on waking, but very clear
in his mind remained the striking, unique figure and face of the man who
followed him.

Some months afterwards - through an odd set of circumstances he heard
that there was a reincarnatian of Shirdi Baba but did not believe it.
Then later on he heard the same story again from another quarter and was
shown a photograph of Sathya Sai Baba. It was the man who had followed
him in the dream.

Now his interest was really aroused. He remembered his uncle's story
that Shirdi Baba had once told him: "I will appear again as a boy
of eight years."

Was this the boy, now grown to manhood? He decided to go as soon as possible
to Puttaparti and find out all he could. It was early in 1961 when he
managed to get there, as one of a party of about thirty people. The ashram
was choked with the thousands who had arrived for the Shivaratri festival,
and Dixit stood among them waiting for a view of Sathya Sai Baba on the
high balcony.

When the little red-robed, dome-haired figure with the sweet, lovable
face appeared, Dixit knew for certain that it was the figure of his strange
dream. Yet, he thought, how can this be the old saint of Shirdi? With
His coloured silks, hair like a woman and the big crowds around Him, this
man is more like a film star. Shirdi Baba was rugged, homespun, simple:
how can this possibly be the same man?, he pondered. Suddenly he wanted
to go home.

But he stayed to watch Sathya Sai pour huge quantities of sacred ash
from a small bowl over the statue of Shirdi Sai, and the same evening
take nine lingams from his mouth. Then during a public discourse next
day Baba said: "Some who have come here think I am too much like
a film star; they object to my bright-coloured robes and the style of
my hair…"

With consternation, Dixit heard all of his own unspoken critical thoughts
being repeated from the platform. Then Baba went on to explain the reasons
- good reasons Dixit felt - for the striking attire, the unique hairstyle
and the other features of this incarnation.

Well, Dixit decided, He is certainly something very special. There is
no doubt about His paranormal powers, but.... He is so different from
old Shirdi Baba. Can it really be the same soul?

On his second visit to Prasanthi Nilayam three months
later, he was called into a room with a group of half-a-dozen people for
an interview. Baba came in, spoke to a few people, and then went up to
M. S. Dixit who was holding a small photo of his uncle, H. S. Dixit, in
his hand. Baba took the photo from him, looked at it, and said: "That's
H. S. Dixit, your uncle, your father's elder brother, and my old devotee
at Shirdi. Now have you any more doubts?"

His doubts were fewer because all that Baba had just
said was true. And Dixit had told no one his name at the ashram. He was
there incognito - just an unknown member of a crowd of visitors.
But Baba had recognised the face of his uncle in the photo at first sight.

After that Dixit often made trips to the ashram and, through the years,
enjoyed the wealth of Sai Baba's miraculous powers, great compassion and
spiritual teachings.

Once, speaking of Shirdi Baba's remark to his uncle Hari
about coming back to earth "as a boy of eight years", Baba told
Dixit that what he had really said was he would return as a boy in
eight years, that is, eight years after his death - which he in fact did.

Sathya Sai added that H. S. Dixit must have misunderstood him. But it
was, the many, many little things, more than these big ones that finally,
convinced him that the two Sais were one, Dixit told me.

He went on to describe these important little things:
the similarities in the siddhis (powers), the parallels in the
teachings and manner of instruction, the subtle echoes from the past in
gesture, phrase and attitude. "Sometimes I even see on his face the
same old smile that I saw long ago on the face of Shirdi Baba," he
said.

Of course, the differences which he felt so sharply at first are indeed
there, he admits. But there, is, after all, a different body, a different
setting, a different period in time - a different environment for the
Sai mission. And therefore the mission, while in spirit the same, cannot
be precisely the same in form and style, and it is to be expected that
the outer personality through which the message comes to the world will
also be different.

Sai Baba himself comments that He is not as hard or angry now as he was
in the earlier manifestation. He is more tolerant and gentle. He explains
the difference by means of a simile: "The mother is usually hard
when the children enter the kitchen and disturb the cooking; but while
serving the food she is all smiles and patience. I am now serving the
dishes cooked then. Wherever you may be, if you are hungry and if your
plate is ready, I shall serve you the dishes and feed, you to your heart's
content.”

At another time, concerning the controversy about whether He is the same
Baba or not, He said: "When there are two pieces of candy, one square,
another circular, one yellow and the other purple in colour, unless one
has eaten and realised the taste of both pieces one cannot, believe that
both are the same. Tasting, experiencing - that's the crucial thing for
knowing the identity."

The Raja of Chincholi was a very ardent devotee of Shirdi
Baba. Baba used to spend a few months every year at Shirdi, Akalkot and
other holy places in the company of Siddhas and Sadhakas (holy men). After
the passing away of the Raja, the Rani (queen) was pleasantly surprised
to hear of the incarnation of the Lord as Sri Sathya Sai Baba at Puttaparthi
and she visited the place.

She prayed to Bhagawan who was just fifteen years of
age at that time to accompany her to Chincholi and Hyderabad. What a surprise
it was for her, when Baba on arriving at the palace, asked her about a
Margosa tree that had stood when Shirdi Sai had visited them, a well that
had been filled up, a line of shops that had been newly built. Baba told
her that He had seen the places years ago while 'in His previous body!'

Sathya Sai Baba asked her about a small stone image of Anjaneya which
had been given to the Raja while in the previous body; the Rani did not
know that it existed; Baba himself discovered it for her! He also said
that there must also be found a picture of Sai Baba and that too was later
discovered in the house.

Three years ago, the Rani had been rummaging the huge store-room at Chincholi
for old brass, bronze or copper which she could sell off and save space
when she came upon a brass ‘Kamandalu’, a drinking vessel
used by Sadhus, whose shape was quaint and artistic. The water has to
be poured through a slit in the handle and the spout ends in a cow's-head
figurine!

Some one suggested that it could be polished and displayed as a decorative
article in the drawing room of her Hyderabad House. The mystery of the
Kamandalu deepened next day when they found a cobra coiled round it! "Baba
alone can solve the secret," she said to herself, while propitiating
the cobra with the traditional Puja (worship).

She arrived at Puttaparthi on the first day of Dasara, and as soon as
she entered the premises, Baba sent word, asking her to come up, "with
my drinking vessel"!

As soon as the Kamandalu was in His Hands He showed some devotees standing
nearby the letters inscribed on the vessel in Devanagari characters, 'S
A A' followed by a pair of short vertical lines, 'B A A' with the two
lines again. 'SAA' indicating Sayi and 'BAA' for Baba!

Readers may wonder how the saint of Shirdi who, according to all accounts,
never left Shirdi for years, could have gone to Chincholi and Hyderabad,
and left a Kamandalu with the Raja. But, devotees who have seen and experienced
the Avatar of Sri Sathya Sai Baba will have no difficulty on this score.
In fact, it is the honest belief of the Rani as well as some old servants
of the Palace that Sai Baba stayed a few days every time He came and that
He used to ride in a Tonga drawn by bullocks far out of the town, in order
to have talks with the Raja who accompanied Him.

This Tonga is now at Prasanthi Nilayam and is on
display at the Chaitanya Jyothi Museum.

The Assurance and the FulfillmentHow Baba had prophesied His advent to Smt. Sharada
Devi.

Smt. Sharada Devi (affectionately called as ‘Pedda
Bottu’ by Baba) is one of those few privileged souls who had the
unique chance of being in the proximity of both Shirdi Sai and Sathya
Sai. Here she narrates how Shirdi Baba had revealed to her about His future
Advent and how later Sathya Sai blessed her profusely:

One day I requested Baba (Shirdi Sai) to give me Mantra
Upadesh (spiritual initiation). Baba replied, "You are young
yet. I will give you Upadesh when you grow older".

I waited till I was 29 years old and prayed to Baba again. He shouted
at me in anger: "You are always obsessed with Upadesh" and kicked
me on the chest with his right foot.

With tears of dejection streaming down my face, I went out and lay beneath
a tree. I must have slept after weeping for a long time. It must have
been very late in the night when Baba came to wake me up. He asked me
to follow him to Lendi Garden.

When we reached the Garden, He said "My child, I could not sleep
in Dwaraka Mayi (the dilapidated Masjid, and Baba's dwelling) when you
were lying out there without food since morning. I have brought you here,
for, I want to tell you something, but first you must eat.”

He stretched out His right hand with palm up and said "Allah Malik
hai". (God is the master). Two chapatis (wheat pancakes) and a lemon
sized-kova (soft solid sweet made of milk) materialised in His palm. He
gave them to me to eat. Again He stretched out His hand and this time
a very small mud pot full of water materialised. When I ate and drank,
he asked me: "Gori, Is your anger gone?" (Baba used to affectionately
call Sharada Devi, ‘Gori’)

I replied in all humility "There is no anger or frustration now.
I was a fool not to realise that your kick was in fact a sign of your
Grace.”

Baba then told me "I will tell you something, but before that you
should hold My feet and promise Me not to tell this to anyone".

With pounding heart and anticipating the much awaited
Mantra-Upadesh I did as he told me, "Gori, I will appear
in Andhra with the same name of Sai Baba but in another Avatar (divine
manifestation). Then again you will come to me. I will keep you with me
and will give you joy".

I was ecstatic in joy and said "I am blessed, my Lord. This is my
greatest fortune.” This conversation between us took place in 1917
AD. Later, I was informed that my ailing elder aunt wanted to see me at
Rajamundry. It was when I was at Rajamundry in 1918 that I learnt that
Baba had left His physical body. I was filled with inexplicable anguish.

One day, many years later, I was invited to sing a ‘Hari Katha’
(a form of ballad popular in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh) in a village
called Uravakonda. In the house where this event was arranged, I happened
to see on the wall a photograph of a handsome lad. He had a large crown
of hair. The face and eyes were most charming and magnetic.

I asked the housewife whose photo it was. She told me "Don't you
know? He is Puttaparthi Sai Baba. If you want to see him, I can take you
to him tomorrow".

The next day I was taken to the house of one Mr. Seshama
Raju, the elder brother of Baba. I then saw the young 14-year-old Baba.
It was in 1940; I was then fifty-two years old. The first words that Bhagwan
Sri Sathya Sai Baba uttered were: “Gori, you owe me sixteen
rupees from my Shirdi Incarnation".

I replied that I had already paid up all my debts to Shirdi Baba. He
said, "I know. I said it because you are not able to recognise Me.
All right. After completing all your tasks at the Poor Home you are running,
go over to Puttaparthi. I shall retain you with Me and shall bestow all
the joy you want".

For the next seventeen years, I used to visit Puttaparthi frequently
and spend a few months every time in the divine presence of Baba. In 1958,
when I was 70, I closed down the Poor Home and went over to Puttaparthi
to spend the rest of my life there.